Western sanctions against Russia, as well as against Belarus, will be introduced in any case, a reason for this will be found, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a press conference following talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Tass informs.
West will introduce sanctions against Russia in any case, Putin says
STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 19, ARTSAKHPRESS: "Sanctions will be imposed in any case. Whether they have a reason today, for example, in connection with the events in Ukraine, or there is no such reason - it will be found, because the goal is different, in this case the goal is to slow down the development of Russia and Belarus," the Russian leader said.
"With this aim, there will always be a reason to introduce certain illegitimate restrictions, and this is nothing more than unfair competition," the Russian leader added.
He stressed that sanctions pressure "is absolutely illegitimate."
"This is a gross violation of international law, but those who are now talking about it (about possible new sanctions - TASS) they care about it (the international law -TASS) only when it is advantageous to them. When it is not advantageous to them, they are happy to forget about all the norms of international public right," Putin said.
He noted with regret that Moscow and Minsk have been living "in such a paradigm for many, many years, because those in power, [who] consider themselves the masters of today's life, they always interpret everything only in their own favor and neglect the interests of other [countries]."
"There is only one way to overcome this state of affairs - to strengthen ourselves from within, and above all, of course, in the economy," the head of state stated.
